“A Man’s Enemies Are The Men Of His Own House”

The title of this column is taken from the Old Testament Book of Micah, chapter seven, verse six. Speaking to His disciples, the Lord Jesus sounded a very similar warning to that of Micah’s. He said, “They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.” (John 16:2 KJV)

Jesus’ prediction literally came true with the persecution and deaths of thousands of Christians by Romans and Jews in the Early Church and later with the persecution and deaths of thousands of Anabaptists, Protestants, Waldenses, etc., by Popes and Catholics during the Dark Ages.

Killing in the service of God is assuredly nothing new. How many wars throughout history have been (and are being) fought in the name of God? Nowadays, nearly all of the supporters of the current neocon “holy war” against Muslims love to tout the passages of the Koran that seem to condone waging “holy Jihad” against any and all non-Muslims. Of course, they conveniently ignore passages in the Koran that promote peace. They seem to ignore the peace passages in the Bible, too, by the way.

Are some extremist Muslims using their religion as cover for their hatred and violence? You bet. But you can also bet it’s more about politics and power than anything else, because Muslims kill Muslims more than any other group of people.

For the record, it never ceases to amaze me that the same Christians who love to use the words of the Koran as justification for a holy war against Muslims have either totally forgotten or never read the words of the Jewish Talmud. The Talmud was the law that the Pharisees held in highest regard–even above The Torah. It was the law they constantly accused Jesus of violating. Still today, the Talmud is regarded as God’s highest law by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and most of Israel’s leaders. In fact, just recently Bibi announce that it was his intention to enshrine the Jewish Talmud as the “official basis for Israeli state law.”

According to Israel National News: “Netanyahu also promised that ‘we will define in the law the Gemara as a basis for the Israeli legal system,’ referencing the Jewish legal text analyzing the Mishnah, a legal work of the Jewish sages, which together form the Talmud.”

So, have any of our Muslim-hating friends bothered to read the Talmud? Try these excerpts on for size:

“When the Messiah comes every Jew will have 2800 slaves.”

“That the Jewish nation is the only nation selected by God, while all the remaining ones are contemptible and hateful.”

“That all property of other nations belongs to the Jewish nation, which consequently is entitled to seize upon it without any scruples. An orthodox Jew is not bound to observe principles of morality towards people of other tribes. He may act contrary to morality, if profitable to himself or to Jews in general.”

“Kill the Goyim [non-Jew] by any means possible.”

“Everyone who sheds the blood of the impious [non-Jews] is as acceptable to God as he who offers a sacrifice to God.”

“The non-Jew is consequently an animal in human form, and condemned to serve the Jew day and night.”

“A Jew may violate but not marry a non-Jewish girl.”

So, when Bibi says he wants to make the Talmud the official law of Israel, does he plan to implement these Talmudic injunctions? And are we now going to hear Christians say, “There is no such thing as a peace-loving Jew”? Or is that moniker reserved exclusively for Muslims? If Christians are afraid of Sharia Law, why are they NOT afraid of Talmudic Law?

Can one imagine how Christians throughout America would have reacted had any Muslim nation attacked one of our Navy vessels that was peacefully patrolling international waters, killing dozens of our sailors and Marines? Yet, that is exactly what the government of Israel (not independent gangs of terrorists) did to the U.S.S. Liberty on June 8, 1967. The attack was completely unprovoked; and in fact, U.S. naval vessels that were in the vicinity were forbidden to assist. The attack lasted for hours, and the United States did absolutely NOTHING. And to this day, there has been NO JUSTICE for the families and loved ones of the victims of the attack on the U.S.S. Liberty. The story has been swept from the pages of history like it never happened. Was this attack the result of Jewish belief in Talmudic Law? We will never know.

If one confronts Jewish apologists with the above quotes from the Talmud, they will say that the words are taken out of context and will point to other quotations that seem to support their position. And this is exactly what Muslim apologists will say when confronted about seemingly pro-violence passages in their holy book.

And how many so-called Christians have used verses from the Old Testament to justify all sorts of violent acts? Even some of Protestantism’s most celebrated names are quoted as promoting violence in the name of the Christian God.

For example, the “Lutheran towns of Lubeck, Bremen, Hamburg, Luneburg, Stralsund, Rostock and Wismar all voted to hang Anabaptists and flog and banish Catholics and Zwinglians from their homelands.

“Luther said of Roman Catholic leaders, ‘If I had all the Franciscan friars in one house, I would set fire to it . . . To the fire with them!’

“Luther (who in 1518 taught baptism by immersion) taught that dissenters (those who disagreed with him) should be banished and said that ‘The peasants (involved in the Peasants’ War) would not listen; they would not let anyone tell them anything; their ears must be unbuttoned with bullets, till their heads jump off their shoulders. … On the obstinate, hardened, blinded peasants, let no one have mercy, but let everyone, as he is able, hew, stab, slay, lay about him as though among mad dogs, . . . . so that peace and safety may be maintained….’ Note that he was speaking of German peasants!”

A man was arrested for writing on one of John Calvin’s tracts the words, “all rubbish,” and was put on the rack twice a day for a month. He was beheaded on July 26, 1547.

“The Spanish Reformer Servetus had dared to criticize Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion and Calvin declared: ‘If he comes here and I have any authority, I will never let him leave the place alive.’

“Servetus , an anti-Trinitarian, had disagreed with Calvin via correspondence and when he visited Geneva on August 13, 1553, he went to hear Calvin preach. Calvin saw him in church and had him arrested. Calvin drew up forty charges against him including Servetus’ opposition to infant baptism and his attack upon the preaching of Calvin. On August 20, 1553, Calvin wrote: ‘I hope that Servetus will be condemned to death’ and in October the Geneva Council ordered that he be burned alive the next day.

“‘Heretics’ were hanged then burned in Zurich, Basil, and Geneva for disagreeing with Calvin’s teachings. During the first five years of Calvin’s rule in the small town of Geneva, 13 people were hanged, 10 were decapitated, and 35 were burned to death. A citizen could go to prison for smiling during a baptismal service or sleeping during a church service!

“In England, Henry VIII was head of the Church of England (that Henry formed after his break from Rome) and doctrinal disagreements now became high treason to be punished by disembowelment while still alive, hanging, and quartering. In the end, even failing to denounce anyone else who criticized these things became treason.”

And, dear reader friend, I am persuaded that Christians persecuting and killing Christians is soon to be the experience of many of us in America. And I am absolutely certain that it will look very much like the experience of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Confessing Church during the days of Nazi Germany.

During the Nazi years in Germany, pastors and churches mis-taught Romans 13 to mean that Christians are commanded by God to submit to civil authority, no questions asked. This devilish indoctrination eventually led to the murder, persecution, and imprisonment of Christian men such as Bonhoeffer, Martin Niemoller, and thousands like them.

In like fashion, America’s pastors and churches are teaching their congregations to obey civil government, no questions asked. There is not a smidgen of difference between the way pastors and churches in Hitler’s Germany taught Romans 13 and the way pastors and churches in America are teaching it today. This can only culminate with the persecution against those who refuse to submit to such heresy–in much the same way that the German National Church persecuted the recalcitrant (but faithful) Confessing Church.

I recently became aware of the ominous signs of this potential eventuality from a story that came out of Grants Pass, Oregon.

Josephine County, Oregon (the county in which Grants Pass is located) had one of the finest constitutional sheriffs in the entire country. Gil Gilbertson was a sheriff’s sheriff. He was unafraid to stand against federal overreach. He knew the Constitution; and he faithfully defended it.

Therefore, it is not surprising that federal, state, and local pressure mounted strongly against Sheriff Gilbertson. Funds were denied his office to the point that it was next to impossible for his office to perform its duties. Of course, Sheriff Gilbertson was blamed for these problems by political leaders and the media. Subsequently, Sheriff Gilbertson was defeated for reelection by big-government toady Dave Daniels on May 20, 2014. Not long afterward, a tax-hike was put on the ballot for the “new” sheriff’s office. And guess who the biggest cheerleaders for the tax levy for the new big-government-bought-and-paid-for sheriff were? You guessed it: two of the largest churches of Grants Pass.

In fact, these two pastors took to the air with the newly-elected big-government sheriff for a media campaign pitching the new tax. I hope you will take the time to watch both of these clips:

Pastor Mark Goens says, “It is painful that we don’t listen to authority.” He also said, “People go to school board meetings and question their every decision and trying to change everything they don’t like.” The good pastor also said that raising taxes was “a Biblical and a spiritual issue.”

So, in other words, parents, “If you don’t like the fact that your school system is teaching the academically and morally corrupt Common Core federal curriculum to your children, you are supposed to be good little Nazis and stay home and question nothing. After all, the authorities know better than you do about what to teach your children. The Bible tells you to submit: so sit down and shut up!”

And Pastor Dennis Webber says this to the sheriff and the chief of public safety, “We recognize that God gave you permission to be in that place and is giving you the authority to function there.”

Really, Pastor Webber? God has given these men authority to “function” in their positions? Under whose orders are they to function? Under whose laws are they to function? You failed to mention that. Do these men have authority from God to make up their own laws? Simply because they are elected or appointed to public office, does God give them “authority to function” as they see fit? You didn’t qualify your remarks at all.

These men swore an oath to the Constitution. They are required by the supreme law of the land to submit to the limits and constraints imposed upon them by the Bill of Rights–not to mention their duty to submit to our Creator’s Laws of Nature. They have NO approbation from Heaven to act outside the limits and boundaries of the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Natural Law. NONE. ZERO. ZILCH. NADA. And for these two pastors to act as if the citizens of Josephine County owe Sheriff Daniels and Chief of Public Safety Bill Landis their unlimited, unquestioned submission (which is exactly what they did) is the height of irresponsibility.

Not once did Pastors Goens or Webber say a word about the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Not one time did they make mention of the sheriff’s responsibility to obey the law of the land, that his position is that of a servant of the people. Instead, the sheriff and chief of public safety were held up as ultimate authorities to whom Christians are commanded to always submit and support. And, ladies and gentlemen, this is the kind of rubbish that the vast majority of our Christian ministers are regurgitating every Sunday throughout the United States of America.

Oh, readers should know that despite the best efforts of Goens and Webber, the proposed tax levy FAILED. Here is a local Grants Pass reporter’s summary of this entire sordid episode:

Am I suggesting that pastors Goens and Webber have killing other Christians in mind? ABSOLUTELY NOT! But do I believe that the devilish doctrine of unlimited submission to civil authority that they are ignorantly teaching is paving the way for future persecution and killing? ABSOLUTELY, I DO.

I’m sure Calvin and Luther never anticipated the killing that would later ensue from their words; I’m sure good Anglicans never anticipated the killings that would later ensue from “their” king; I’m sure good Roman Catholics never anticipated the purging and inquisitions that would later ensue in the name of their Church; and I’m sure the good pastors and Christians in Germany never anticipated the slaughter that would ensue from their heretical teaching of Romans 13, either.

This kind of thing never happens overnight. It takes years and decades to sufficiently indoctrinate a population before such atrocities can take place. And, my friends, we are smack dab in the middle of this totalitarian indoctrination as we speak. And, wittingly or unwittingly, some of the biggest propagandists are pastors such as Mark Goens and Dennis Webber.

As a fellow pastor, I am outraged! I am sick to my stomach that my fellow ministers would allow themselves to be used in such a devilish fashion. And, while I know that this kind of heresy is being taught nationwide, we have the videos of these two pastors publically participating in this propaganda.

Since these are very public pastors who are unashamed of their unbiblical and tyrannical position, and as a fellow pastor with forty years seniority (as of next month), I feel I have “standing” to call them on the carpet for it. Therefore, I am including their contact information in this column should any of my readers want to express their personal feelings one way or another. (Readers already have my contact information.)

P.S. Compare the preaching of Pastors Goens and Webber with the preaching of the pastors of Colonial America. On Sunday, April 19 of this year, I delivered the famous sermon of Pastor Jonas Clark that was originally delivered on April 19, 1776, on the occasion of the first anniversary of the Battle of Lexington. Pastor Clark was the pastor of the men who fought that historic battle, which began America’s War for Independence. Obviously, this message was delivered just a couple of months before our Declaration of Independence was signed. I preached this message word-for-word. And I tried to deliver it with the same zeal and passion in which it was originally preached.

The vast majority of today’s Christians NEVER hear a message that remotely resembles the kind of sermons that the pastors of Colonial America delivered (especially those folks at Parkway Christian Center and River Valley Church in Grants Pass, Oregon). And since April 19 fell on Sunday this year, I delivered Jonas Clark’s powerful message regarding the Battle of Lexington and American liberty so people could listen to the kind of preaching that Christians in Colonial America heard routinely. Pastor Clark entitled his message, “The Fate of Blood-Thirsty Oppressors and God’s Tender Care of His Distressed People.”

My delivery of this awesome message is on DVD. I offer this DVD to my readers in the hope that many of you will purchase copies of the DVD and let your friends, relatives, fellow Christians, pastor, etc., hear true Colonial American preaching. Again, this is word-for-word the message of Jonas Clark delivered on April 19, 1776, concerning the Battle of Lexington Green and America’s fight for liberty. I especially invite Pastors Goens and Webber to watch it.

I have never heard anyone deliver Rev. Clark’s famous message. As far as I know, this is the only verbatim recording of this historic message in existence–preached with the same kind of passion and fervor as it was said Pastor Clark delivered it.

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